My fiance and I have both recently received
3rd Generation iPod Nanos as gifts. Nate works in an aircraft maintenance facility, so you can imagine that it gets fairly loud in the huge building. He had been bringing the iPod I gave him to work day after day and I was convinced I had finally gotten him a gift he really liked but he suddenly stopped bringing it, and I've noticed that for the past several weeks it has sat on the shelf gathering dust. When I asked him about it he said he really enjoyed having it, but that the earbuds hurt his ears after having them in for awhile and the pretty white cord had turned a gross grey shade. The next time we were in Target we stopped in the pocketbook-scaring iPod aisle and he examined the zillions of earbuds for quite awhile. He wanted to get a $50 pair, but decided to start with a less expensive pair in the same brand, the
Skull Candy INK'D Buds at $13.99 in a black color that would match his iPod. He used them and liked them and as you can guess, I bought myself a pair, too.
The Product
Thank goodness... for once this electronics product came in plastic packaging with cardboard backing that wasn't impossible to open. Included in the black, skull-printed, easy-to-open package:
-3 sizes (small, medium, large; comes with medium already on) of silicone bud covers
-black cord (slightly longer than 4 feet)
Fit
First of all, the buds aren't labelled right or left which is kind of annoying. I wasn't sure which should go in which ear obviously, and while the fit apparently doesn't make a difference the sound does. Since the buds are shaped exactly the same I just picked a bud for each ear and gently pushed them into my ears. They went in with a strange squishy feeling that wasn't uncomfortable and felt like they would be staying there (instead of falling out like the standard ear buds do for me).
Standard iPod earbuds are slightly too big for my ears, and as they are made of harder plastic they aren't pliable or versatile at all. THe hard plastic is also scratchy and makes my ears have an achey feeling before an hour passes. The
Skull Candy INK'D Buds have a pliable silicone plastic covering over the speakers. This rubbery earpiece fits gently and comfortably in my ear but also is snug enough so that it doesn't move no matter how much I swing my head around.
Sound
The
Skull Candy INK'D Buds are made to isolate what you're hearing on your speakers, cancelling out any background noise and they definitely seem to do just that. The silicone piece seems to seal in my music and stop anything outside from getting in. As I'm writing this Nate keeps talking to me; I'm used to just turning the volume way down or pausing my music, but even doing that I still have a hard time hearing him with the buds still in my ear.
Since I'm presented with no outside sounds to compromise the quality of sound the earbuds are definitely up to the test. The bass has a clear quality that isn't mushy at all; I can distinguish different, deep bass tones without an overbearing quality. The treble is also very clean and doesn't have the tinny quality you often get with earbuds. All the pitches and instrumental voices can be heard clearly and individually.
Overall
I'm really happy with this purchase. These earbuds fit very comfortably in my ears and I never get tired of wearing them before I get tired of listening to my music. I've actually even been able to turn on more relazing music and fall asleep with my music on without waking up with achey ears or lost earbuds. The plastic is soft, gentle, and snuggles in my ear to create a full sound. Conveniently, the
Skull Candy INK'D Buds come packaged with three separate sizes of the silicone ear pieces, so you can change to fit your ear canal snugly and comfortably. These plastic pieces are easy to remove from the speakers; I simply "unrolled" the pliable plastic to make it easier to pull apart from the speaker. The new ones squeeze on in place just as easily.
Because outside sounds are eliminated moreso than with standard iPod earbuds I don't have to keep the volume perpetually up 3/4 of the way, and can enjoy my music at varying volumes depending on my mood and what I'm listening to. When Nate listens to his iPod turned up really loud (which I've told him is bad for him, but he continues to do it) with the
Skull Candy INK'D Buds in I can't hear it the way you often can hear the "leftover" sound trickling out of others' earbuds. Likewise, my coworkers never complain of being able to hear my iPod when I wear these earbuds, which in a library office can be a good thing. However, I've gotten myself into trouble at least once by missing a phone call due to having these earbuds in... sorry I couldn't hear you, my ears were full of
Skull Candy.
These earbuds come in a handful of different colors to match your mp3 player. Nate chose black to match his black iPod Nano, which I have to say looks very sleek. He also likes that the cord no longer looks dingy from his dirty job, which the white cord his iPod earbuds came with always did. The cord is just long enough; at just over four feet it allows for flexibility in movement, but isn't too long as to be annoying.
The jack is gold plated and nicely sized where it plugs into the iPod. There is a small alien head (the
Skull Candy logo) barely visible on the plastic of the jack. The same logo in color is printed on the the outer part of the ear buds.
My only complaints are that sometimes faint rustling can be heard if you jostle or finger the cord too much. Also, be forewarned that it really does eliminate outside sounds, and when I have the volume turned up really loud I know I can't hear important things like Nate talking to me, the phone ringing, or the doorbell chiming... but this is a good thing if you ask me :)
The
Skull Candy INK'D Buds were around $14 and were a completely worth it purchase. The sound is clear and the buds are comfortable; both vast improvements from the standard earplugs.
Geek Stuff:
*Note: These are specifics listed on the packaging
Frequency range 20-20k Hz
Driver dia. (speaker) 11mm
Cable length 1.3 M
Plug type 3.5mm Gold Plated
Impedence 16 Ohms - 15% (1k Hz/1mW 0.179V)
Max input power 100 mW (max)
